This One Refuses
by Perfect Ruin
Summary: Chap 8 - more of Clone 13
1. Spectrum

Title: This One Refused

Author: Perfect Ruin

Rating: Will not go higher than PG-13

Disclaimer: The Matrix and all their characters belong to the Wachowski Brothers and Warner Brothers. I own Kiree and any other original characters that you don't recognize. 

Summary: Steps have to be taken to destroy the exiled Agent Smith.

Author Notes: Hi *waves* my name is Perfect Ruin, but you can just call me Ruin. This is the first fic I have written without a set idea of where it is going and an idea how it's going to end. So it should be fun J It's set between the first Matrix and into Reloaded, but the war isn't at the stage it is in canon (i.e. Smith is cloning people but the Sentinels aren't digging) 

The title will make sense in a few chapters time but if you'll let I'd rather not spoil what it's referring to (but 'One' isn't referring to Neo) 

Word Count: 537

_ _ _ ~ *~ _ _ _  

Kiree, AKA Spectrum ran down the rainy street like a creature of pure evil was after her. 

The truth was far less horrific though; she was merely late for work. Another late night in front of her computer had caused her to sleep through her alarm. Her boss had already chewed her out earlier in the week for being late. 

Skidding to a stop at a street to avoid getting hit by a car a delivery truck screamed past and drove through what must have been the biggest puddle in New York. 

"Shit," Kiree swore under her breath as the contents of the puddle drenched her. She was soaked from her hair, which was light brown with darker streaks, and kept in a short ponytail that dropped just down past her shoulders, her black jacket and pants, even her heavy black boots. At least the boots were ok; they were from an army disposal store so they were used to rough treatment. 

A short boy in a private school uniform laughed at her. Kiree just glared and walked on toward her job, she was late so there was no point in running anymore. 

Data-entry, how exciting. At least it related to computers. In her spare time she was a hacker that paid better. Her online alias was Spectrum; something she felt suited her, as she displayed a full range of everything. Calm to angry in a matter of moments, weak as water or as strong as a brick wall, she was the shades of gray if ever they existed in a person. 

She pushed the revolving door and jumped into the elevator doors as they closed. This somewhat rash act earned a couple of disapproving looks from people who didn't live in a one-bedroom apartment, and that drove cars. People who earned more money than her. 

Money wasn't very important to her; as long as her computer had electricity to run and she had enough to eat she was happy. 

She didn't do much outside her apartment besides going to the library, movies, or an occasional concert. 

"You're late," a sneering voice said from behind her. 

"Screw you," she said as she shook out her wet hair and continued to her cubicle and logged onto her computer. The owner of the voice, a sharp-faced co-worker named Flint looked over the patrician at her. 

"Donahue was looking for you, you look great by the way." 

"I can crash your computer from her, don't push me," Flint smirked and walked away. 

"Jerk," Kiree muttered under her breath as he walked away. 

"I hope that was an empty threat," her boss, Donahue said as he walked into her cubicle. Kiree forced a smile onto her face.

"Of course it was sir, I would never interfere with company property like that."

"Well, good. Otherwise it may be something else that would put you under review." 

"Come on Donahue, give a break. I might be late a couple of times but I do the work of three people in here." 

"Rules are rules, try and not be late."

Kiree flashed a salute as he turned his back. Reaching over to the overflowing pile in her in tray she started to enter the data. 

_ _ _ ~ *~ _ _ _  

Ok, sorry not much happened in that chapter. There is more coming. 


	2. Enter Smith

Title: This One Refused

Author: Perfect Ruin

Rating: Will not go higher than PG-13

Disclaimer: The Matrix and all their characters belong to the Wachowski Brothers and Warner Brothers. I own Kiree and any other original characters that you don't recognize. 

Summary: Steps have to be taken to destroy the exiled Agent Smith.

Author Notes: Ok, I am deviating from canon. There have only been two Matrices in this fic, the perfect one that failed and the current one. This one has been operating just over a hundred years. 

Word Count: 845

_ _ _ ~ *~ _ _ _  

The upgrades would be better, that they had always known.

The mainframe had thought for years on creating better agents. Smith's destruction had simply been the time to initiate that plan. 

They were to be better than the original agents, Smith had known that, but he hadn't expected them to be better than him. 

He delivered a blow to one of them; he didn't even know their names. But from what he and his clones had gathered all three names ended in 'son', how very original. At least he and his ex-co-workers had had some differentiation in their names. Smith, Brown and Jones. 

Different from each other, even though the names had been chosen because they were simple and common. Smith was the most common surname in the world at the time he had been created. Smith was a common human name.

Smith the agent, however was far from common. He had been the first agent ever brought online. That had been almost a hundred years ago. He and his two co-agents had been brought online to deal with the first one. He hadn't been as much trouble as his reincarnation or whatever their damned prophecy said. 

Anderson.

The One.

Thomas A. Anderson. 

Who had destroyed him. 

A bullet glanced by his head, the fight was turning in favor of the upgrades, it was time for an exit as only an exile can make. Pulling out his own gun he fired shot to keep his replacements at bay and ran for the nearest door.

Running was something Smith had never done before becoming an exile. That was because as an agent of the system it wasn't possible to be destroyed. At least, no agent had ever been destroyed before him. The mainframe had learnt some things that day. 

Jamming his key into the door he unlocked it and stepped through. Closing it behind him, he was safe from the other agents. 

He stared up the hall; he was in the backdoor hallway. An endless hallway and system of corridors of green doors and white walls. They were the escape routes and tunnels of the exiles. If he had found out about these while he had still been an agent they would have been able to free themselves of the exile menace. 

Now being one of them, he needed them as much as they did.

He wondered where his clones were; it was a process he had learnt within days of waking up being away from the system. He had known what he was; he had made the choice not to be deleted. But now he was among a hunted people. He had fifteen clones at the moment; it had taken several attempts to perfect the process. 

They were almost everything he was; they had his manner and his memories. His suit, sunglasses, Desert Eagle and backdoor key. But he was still unique because he was the original. He was the only one who could destroy one of his clones if he chose. The others could kill each other off if they chose – something that would approach suicide – but he was the only one who could revert a clone to the being they had once been.

Not that he would ever have a reason for doing that. 

Knowing he was almost out of bullets he pulled the clip from the gun and copied the coding of the remaining few. Exiles could manipulate coding almost as well as agents or other system programs. He could copy or create anything he needed. Money, a car or a suit if his was damaged. Whatever he needed. 

Except to destroy Anderson. 

He hadn't caught more than a few fleeting glimpses of the rebellion's great hope since that afternoon in the hall. He seriously doubted if they even knew he was still…alive…active…online, whichever word they would choose to describe his state of being. 

Night was falling and it was time for him to decide what he was going to do. Exiles, unlike system programs could sleep. Something he had done a few times when he had been bored out of his skull. He had found a suitably abandoned building. When he had first found it, there had been several other homeless people in there. 

Five minutes after discovering this fact there had been three more clones of himself. They had all gone their separate ways, each choosing a different plan of action to destroy Anderson. It was odd to see different qualities of himself brought out in some clones. 

He suspected it had something to do with the actual process itself, which wasn't perfect. Or maybe it was the host. 

He opened a door close the old hotel and saw a candidate for another clone. 

It was nighttime, raining and dark. Not a good time for people to be out by themselves. He quietly closed the door and trailed the young woman he had seen crossing the top of the alley. She was no more than twenty, and alone. It was her own fault. 

Smith smirked as he silently followed her. 

_ _ _ ~ *~ _ _ _  

Think I write Smith ok? I hope so cause he's one of the main characters. 


	3. The End?

Title: This One Refused

Author: Perfect Ruin

Rating: Will not go higher than PG-13

Disclaimer: The Matrix and all their characters belong to the Wachowski Brothers and Warner Brothers. I own Kiree and any other original characters that you don't recognize. 

Summary: Steps have to be taken to destroy the exiled Agent Smith.

Author Notes: Not this time.

Word Count: 998

_ _ _ ~ *~ _ _ _  

"Stupid, stupid, stupid," Kiree cursed herself as she walked hurriedly toward her apartment. It was never a good idea to be out this late on your own. 

She'd just lost track of time, but the overtime would pay for a couple of things she'd been wanting. She just hoped she would make it home before she ended up as a nameless dead body in one of the alleys around there. 

Hearing something, she stopped and looked around. The street appeared to be empty. That was what scared her; she knew she had heard something. 

Then she heard a bottle crash, looking up the street she saw a group of people coming out of a bar. Kiree detested drunks with a passion, her father had been an alcoholic and there was just something about drunken people that unnerved her. They started down the street so she ducked into the alley to wait for them to pass. 

She walked straight into a man in a suit. She took a step back and wondered what the hell he was doing there. "Excuse me," she said and turned back out to the street. It just wasn't her night.

"Stop," he said and she took off running. She ran down the street and she could hear him behind her, pushing her way through the drunks she ducked into another alley. Hiding behind a trash can she saw him pass on by. Trying to breathe as softly as possible she waited until she thought it was safe. Standing and shaking the trash off her she walked out of the alley and continued home.

As soon as she was in she double locked the door and jammed the chair under the handle. Turning on the lights of the small apartment she grabbed the takeaway from the fridge and collapsed on her bed. 

There had been something freaky about that guy, and she didn't even know what he wanted. Whatever it was wasn't above board, since he had followed her. Chased her. 

But the suit made him look like some official, maybe she'd been caught. Her hacking days might be over. 

No, those kind of suits came knocking on your door, not cornered you in a dark alley.

* * * 

Stupid human, Smith thought to himself as he watched the human girl go into a cheap apartment building. She had actually thought she had escaped him. 

No one, with the exception of Anderson ever eluded him permanently. And it was rare to elude him at all. 

But she had made the night interesting. 

Maybe the same could happen tomorrow. 

He decided that he wouldn't let her get away the next night. But for now, he turned toward the old abandoned hotel that he had begun to think of as a sort of base. 

He kicked a gray cat out of his way as he climbed the dusty stairs to the top floor. 

He stood silently in the low light for a moment contemplating what he had become before lying on the hard mattress that one of the previous occupants had dragged there, probably from some dump. He could have made the money for an expensive hotel with a few idle thoughts, or manipulated the bed into something far more comfortable, but somehow this old mattress – which he was convinced had several colonies of spiders living in it – kept him grounded. 

* * * 

Kiree actually woke up before her alarm the next morning, and stumbled around getting ready for work. She was tired, she'd had a fitful sleep, the man from the night before had unnerved her. She had told herself to get over it, but she knew on some level that she hadn't seen the last of him.

When she got to work she drank some coffee as she was logged onto the system. The morning had gone all right so far. 

Until she saw an unfriendly face looking over the cubicle wall. Flint.

"What do you want?" she asked as she stared into her screen and opened the necessary programs. 

"You're a hacker aren't you?"

"Yes," she hissed as her blue eyes turned to stone, she hated Flint; he was just the office creep.

"Heard of Morpheus?"

"Yeah, of course," she said now a little more interested in what he had to say. 

He came into her cubicle, sat on the desk beside her and talked in a lower voice. "You know how he contacts people?"

"Hackers, programmers and the like…" she said with a nod.

"I got a message last night." 

"You're bullshitting me." 

"I am deadly serious, he wants to meet me." 

"Why would he want to meet you?"  
  


"Jealous?"

"Unlikely, people that go anywhere near him are never heard from again."

"He thinks I have talent."

Kiree snorted, "The man is obviously a delusional."

Flint shrugged, "maybe or maybe not. I'm going to find out tonight."

"Do me a favor Lassie," she said as he walked away. "Fall down the well and don't come back."

"You are jealous," he said with a grin that was anything but friendly. 

She hadn't known he was that much of a fool. Any decent hackers knew about Morpheus, he was called a terrorist by the government and press, but the net community knew him as a great mind and leader.

Kiree was too smart to get herself involved in anything that could get her killed. 

She managed to get away from work a little earlier than usual that day, and as she was almost home she heard an animal. She stopped and listened, it sounded like an injured cat. 

She walked into the alley and looked for the cat; seeing it, she knelt down to inspect its condition. As she reached out to the cat a pair of expensive black shoes walked up to her. She looked up to their owner. It was the same guy.

She stood and went to say something, but she never got the chance. 

Smith drove his hand into her chest. 

_ _ _ ~ *~ _ _ _  

No notes this time *sigh*


	4. Two guests

Title: This One Refused

Author: Perfect Ruin

Rating: Will not go higher than PG-13

Disclaimer: The Matrix and all their characters belong to the Wachowski Brothers and Warner Brothers. I own Kiree and any other original characters that you don't recognize. 

Summary: Steps have to be taken to destroy the exiled Agent Smith.

Author Notes: I can't remember, did I mention this was AU?

Ok, some of you know this already but to those who don't, I am also another author on FFN. I got this account so I could write other stuff and try different things. Some of you would know me as Stormhawk. 

Word Count: 720

_ _ _ ~ *~ _ _ _  

Kiree stopped breathing, he had his hand in her. She wasn't bleeding or anything, it was just stuck in her. Her head arched back in pain as a shiny black liquid started to spread. 

She felt so cold; she knew she was done for. He was killing her. 

"Don't," she whispered numbly, "please don't." 

Smith smirked down at her, "this won't take long." 

She wasn't sure if her heart had stopped beating or if it was going like a freight train. She couldn't concentrate on anything. She could feel it creeping up and over her shoulders; all the while the man responsible was standing there with a self-satisfied look on his smug face. 

It had to stop. 

She tried to reach up to his hand with her left arm but his right shot out and held it. Her right moved and tried to pull his hand away. 

Smith shook his head, "stop fighting me." 

She punched him, but her arm had so little strength left in it that it fell onto his shoulder. Her head dropped forward and she saw herself, her clothes were changing into his.

She was becoming him?

The liquid was crawling up her neck now, she knew once she was covered in it she was done for. 

Kiree kicked her right foot, something she would have thought was useless but it did the job. He jerked when her foot hit his shin, kicking him again and again he involuntarily stop a step back to avoid the attack and at the same time Kiree took her own step back. 

His hand was wrenched free and she fell to the alley floor.

The black liquid slowly seeped away and broke down into green symbols before disappearing. She watched on in confusion as her world spun, she couldn't get up or even move. If he tried to do that again she was gone, but at least she had put up a good fight. She pulled up her knees and lay and the fetal position in the middle of the stinking alley as he walked over to her. 

"Perhaps you are more trouble than you are worth," he said as he put his hand into his jacket to draw his gun. 

Gunshots rang out near his head as two men came into the alley. Smith looked up at the other agents, stepped over Kiree's still form and opened the door behind her with his backdoor key and escaped. 

"He escaped," the shorter one said. 

"Human," the other one said as he looked down at her.

"Shit," Kiree said, these guys looked like the creep who had just stuck his hand into her chest. Well, like enough to be brothers or cousins or something, except that their suits were gray and not black and they had white wires coming out of their ears. 

"What happened?" the tall one demanded. 

She had been about to say, 'you won't believe me,' when she realized they might. "Creepy guy, looked kind of like you, stuck his hand into my chest and this liquid came out," she rolled over and pointed to where it was still seeping from the wound. 

The short one knelt and rubbed some between his fingers, "this is source code as we suspected," he looked at her. "Did he stop the process because of us?" 

"No, I fought him." 

The tall one looked at her incredulously, "you fought ex-agent Smith and survived? Tell us the truth." 

"I just did, please help me up." 

The short one offered a hand and helped her to her feet, she leant against the alley wall for support. "Can you please tell…he's in that building, why aren't you chasing him?"

The tall one shook his head, "he's not in there." 

"The hell he isn't," Kiree said as pushed the door open. They were right, he wasn't. "I've been pulled into a world I shouldn't know exists haven't I?"

"Yes," the short one said. "Now we need to decide what happens now." 

"Shoot her," the tall one suggested.

"You can't shoot me," Kiree said. He drew his gun, "ok maybe you can but you don't want to." 

"Put down your gun Brown," the short one said. "This warrants further investigation." 

Brown holstered his gun again, "then investigate Jones." 

Jones looked down at Kiree, "please come with us." 

_ _ _ ~ *~ _ _ _  

YAY! Brown and Jones, I like those guys better than the reloaded agents. How and why they are there will get explained soon, but I am telling you this right now, I have swapped their names around. This isn't because I don't know which is which, it's because when I started writing ATS (as Stormhawk) I flipped the names and now can't think of them with their original names.


	5. The trouble with clones

Title: This One Refused

Author: Perfect Ruin

Rating: Will not go higher than PG-13

Disclaimer: The Matrix and all their characters belong to the Wachowski Brothers and Warner Brothers. I own Kiree and any other original characters that you don't recognize. 

Summary: Steps have to be taken to destroy the exiled Agent Smith.

Author Notes: I'm sorry the chapters are short but this is how they came out while I was writing it.

Word Count: 695

_ _ _ ~ *~ _ _ _  

Smith walked down the hallway, he wasn't quite sure where he was going, but he needed to be far away from the other agents. Of course distance in the hall had no correlation to distance in the Matrix but it was a mind set, the further the better. He was trying to select a door when one opened up the hall. 

He was only mildly surprised to see a clone of himself walk in. It was Clone Thirteen, something that didn't improve his bad mood. There must have been something wrong with the process the day Thirteen was created. 

The clone arched an eyebrow and walked down the corridor to his creator, which was him for most intents and purposes, but then again, they were also two separate beings. Clone Thirteen looked at Smith, "what happened?"

Smith shook his head, he was still confused about the incident, "she refused."

"You were trying to clone someone?" 

Smith nodded, "a girl." 

Thirteen shook his head, "and she refused? That's impossible." 

"Apparently it is not." 

Clone Thirteen smirked, "you must be losing your touch." 

"I will convert her," Smith said firmly, he was sure this time had been a singular anomaly. Merely a glitch. 

"Maybe you need our help, isn't that why you created us?" 

"I have cloned myself to help in Anderson's downfall. And the rebellion if we succeed." 

"And yet tonight you had trouble cloning yourself into one human girl." 

Smith walked past his clone and through another back door. He had never liked Clone Thirteen. Thirteen was some of his bad traits magnified. He hoped that none of his other clones turned out like him. 

He made his way back to the abandoned hotel, and sat stiffly on the mattress, slowly crushing a spider under the heel of his hand.

"Hey buddy, you want a drink?" an inebriated voice asked him from the shadows of the room. He stood and pulled a torch from the coding of the Matrix. He shone it over and found a bum had moved into…his…place. 

"You are trespassing."

"No I'm not, this place is for everyone without anywhere to go." 

"Not you, go away." 

"Don't be like that, I'm not bad company." 

He could have shot him, or turned him into a copy, but he chose to do neither. "If I give you money will you go away?" 

The homeless man shrugged, "sure." He walked over to Smith and stuck his hand out. Smith created a pile of notes and slammed them into his hand. 

"Thank you," the man said then left quickly, a couple of thousand dollars richer than he had been thirty seconds ago. 

Smith hadn't been thanked before. 

"Virus," he muttered after the man before realizing that he was the same. 

The girl had resisted him. Refused to be turned into a clone.

No human had ever managed to do that before, go against his will. She had fought him and she had won. He wasn't even sure he would have shot her if Brown and Jones hadn't shown up. At least they were still online, that fact had almost made him smile. Sure they had been trying to kill him, but at least they hadn't been deleted. 

There was a twofold reason he was glad; one: they shouldn't be blamed for his destruction and secondly he didn't want to deal with any other exile agents. That was, of course, unless they willing to serve under him. Now an exile he was working for himself, serving no one but his own needs. 

He had his own goals, which was why he had refused The Merovingian's offer to work as a bodyguard. It was an offer he made to any exiles with unusual abilities or strengths. But he wouldn't work for the overly French program; it was against every code in his being.  

He would search for the girl, and if his ex-colleagues hadn't shot her themselves she would become a clone. 

This one incident was becoming annoying, it was a distraction. But it was also a challenge. It might be fun, something agents never experienced, except maybe while hunting or killing rebels, but this would be different. 

_ _ _ ~ *~ _ _ _  

I have no idea where the Clone Thirteen thing came from but he'll be back. 


	6. New Information

Title: This One Refused

Author: Perfect Ruin

Rating: Will not go higher than PG-13

Disclaimer: The Matrix and all their characters belong to the Wachowski Brothers and Warner Brothers. I own Kiree and any other original characters that you don't recognize. 

Summary: Steps have to be taken to destroy the exiled Agent Smith.

Author Notes: None. 

Word Count: 682

_ _ _ ~ *~ _ _ _  

Kiree followed the two suited men to an old building. Old, but still functional, as if it had been brought back into service. This was much closer to the truth than she would have imagined. 

Brown was still giving strange looks to Jones; as if this was an idea he disapproved of. She was still trying to process everything, she kept one hand pressed to her chest, she felt as though she had a wound there, but there was no physical damage besides a slight bruising.

She followed them into a conference room, they sat at one side of the table and she took the spare chair opposite them. "You said 'humans' before as though you…" she paused and looked at them, "you're not human are you? Neither was Smith." 

"No," Jones said. 

"Then what the hell are you?"

"We are agents, computer programs, this is more complicated than you realize."

Kiree sat back in her chair, feeling that this was going to take a while. "Tell me everything." 

Brown spoke next, "this world is not real. It is a computer simulation, it is all in your mind." 

"What?" 

He almost smirked, "you said you wanted the truth." 

"Could you at least slow it down a bit?"

"There was a war," Jones said. "Between humans and AI, they wanted to destroy the machines but they fought back and eventually won. Then the Matrix was created."

"Matrix, I've heard of that." She thought hard for a moment, "Morpheus, I think those two are connected aren't they?"

Brown gave her a look that said something to the nature of 'she knows more than I thought she did' and nodded. "He is a rebel."

"What's he rebelling from?"

"From the Matrix," Jones continued. "This is the part you might find hard to accept," he paused for a moment. "Most humans, besides those grown in the rebel city of Zion, are grown though a cloning process and plugged directly into the Matrix. Everything your mind perceives is part of a virtual world, nothing more."

Kiree was silent for a moment, absorbing it all. Then she asked, "why?"

"The humans burnt the sky in the final stage of the war," Brown explained. "The machines were solar powered at the time, they had stores though, but not enough to last forever. Humans are merely batteries to us now." 

"They burnt the sky?" she asked incredulously. "I didn't think we were quite that stupid. So what's with the rebels?"

"They want to destroy the Matrix. And take all the humans into the 'real' world just because it is the truth." 

"With no sun, nothing would grow and it would cold wouldn't it?"

"It is a frozen desert wasteland," Jones said simply, "there is nothing left for humans out there." 

"I see," Kiree said finally. It had taken a moment but she had adjusted, she was good at adapting. "So where does Smith fit into all of this? He looks like you guys – no offense." 

"None taken," Jones said, "he was one of us. He was an agent but then he was destroyed. When a program is destroyed it has two choices, to accept deletion or to go exile and hide from the system. He chose exile." 

"He isn't being very inconspicuous for someone who is supposed to be hiding." 

"He is cloning himself into people, creating copies of himself to help his fight."

"Which is?"

"To destroy Anderson, the rebel who destroyed him. It has become his single purpose." 

"And you two are supposed to stop him by yourself? With a head office like this?"

"No, the upgraded agents have that task. We only deal with him when he comes into our sector, which is five blocks by five blocks. We were…demoted…after he was destroyed."

"Sorry." 

"Why do humans blame themselves for things that aren't their fault?" Brown asked.

"I have no idea," Kiree admitted. "So what happens now?" 

Jones looked at Brown, who gave a slight nod, "would you be willing to work with us to destroy Smith?"

"You want to recruit me?" Kiree asked with wide eyes. 

_ _ _ ~ *~ _ _ _  

Ooh *claps hands* plot development. Yay!


	7. I'm in

Title: This One Refused

Author: Perfect Ruin

Rating: Will not go higher than PG-13

Disclaimer: The Matrix and all their characters belong to the Wachowski Brothers and Warner Brothers. I own Kiree and any other original characters that you don't recognize. 

Summary: Steps have to be taken to destroy the exiled Agent Smith.

Author Notes: Just on Jones and Brown, I think this is a new theory as to what happened to them. I don't think they became the upgrades and I hope they weren't deleted, so I think demotion is a plausible idea. 

Word Count: 584

_ _ _ ~ *~ _ _ _  

"That would be an appropriate term, yes," Jones said as he sat back in his chair. "Well?"

"I already have a job," Kiree said. "And it doesn't involve bodily harm. Smith stuck his hand into my chest and tried to kill me, I want to live to see my twenty-first birthday."

"Wouldn't you like to repay him for that?" Brown asked, knowing a lot of humans had a weak spot when it came to a chance for revenge. 

"Yes," she said firmly. "But it would more likely get me killed in the process." 

"We could train you, the rebels can do things you can't imagine because they know how to bend and break the rules of this system. You could do the same." 

"Like what?" 

Brown drew his gun and pushed it across the table to her. "Shoot me." 

"What?"

"You cannot destroy me with that weapon. Do it." 

Agent Brown stood while Kiree picked up the gun; it was heavy and aimed it at the agent. Hesitating for just a moment she pulled the trigger. He moved out of the path of the bullet as if he were dodging a slow moving balloon.

"Again." 

She pulled the trigger many times and he avoided all the bullets. When it clicked empty he sat back down and held out his hand, she handed back the gun in a state of shock. 

"You wouldn't be that fast," he said, "but perhaps enough to save your life." He pulled out the clip and refilled the bullets. She watched as they appeared as coding then fully materialized. 

"Could I do that?" she asked. 

"This will be harder to do," Jones said. "We are programmed and know how to do it." 

"Let me try, how do I do it?" 

"Imagine the object you want clearly in your mind…to put it into terms you would understand, you will the object into existence. All objects can be pulled from the Matrix code, as everything is made of it. Try." 

"Ok," Kiree said, even though it sounded a little strange. She imagined a glass of water, and held out her hand – expecting it to appear – it didn't. She scrunched up her face and imagined the water being there. 

Then she realized that was why it wasn't appearing, you weren't supposed to imagine the object being there, you had to imagine pulling the object from the code, creating it. Concentrating, this time it worked.

"Cool," she said and drank the cold water. "I'd like to see what this code looks like." 

Jones stood and pointed to the wall at the end of the room, it flickered and disappeared, instead replaced by scrolling green symbols. He let her look at it for a moment before reloading the wall. She thought it was beautiful. 

"Well?" he asked again. "Are you willing to work with us?" 

"Can I think about it?" 

"You have five minutes," Jones said as they left the room and closed the door behind them. Kiree stood and walked over to the window, staring out at the quiet city. It wasn't real.

What's real anyway? 

So this was the dream world she had heard mentioned on the net, the splinter that drove some hackers to people like Morpheus. People that wanted to drag them away from their homes and family. 

Pulling a fifty-dollar bill from the air she smiled, she could get used to this. 

She opened the door and looked at the two agents who were waiting patiently. 

"Ok guys, I'm in." 

_ _ _ ~ *~ _ _ _  

Did anyone see that coming? 


	8. A clone walks into a bar

Title: This One Refused

Author: Perfect Ruin

Rating: Will not go higher than PG-13

Disclaimer: The Matrix and all their characters belong to the Wachowski Brothers and Warner Brothers. I own Kiree and any other original characters that you don't recognize. 

Summary: Steps have to be taken to destroy the exiled Agent Smith.

Author Notes: I'm not exactly sure where I am going with Thirteen's plot, but he's an interesting character so allow me to present a chapter for a clone. I wonder if clones are people too? 

Words to live by: 'Programs are people too.' – Hummer, ATS

Word Count: 708

_ _ _ ~ *~ _ _ _  

Clone Thirteen sat in a bar, just a pub whose name no one remembered and the patronage usually preferred not to be talked to, as they didn't want their names to be heard. 

If he had been in his usual attire he would have been completely out of place, suits didn't come into this fine establishment. Suits who did usually ended up missing, found months later decomposing at the bottom of the river. 

Fortunately for him, he wasn't wearing a suit. He was in jeans and a heavy coat. His sunglasses however, were still tucked in his inside pocket. He liked those. 

He was different to the other clones, he knew this for a fact, and he was definitely different to the original. Either something had gone wrong with the process, or it hadn't been completed allowing traces of the host to shine through, whatever it was he liked it.

It meant he was an individual, not just another Smith. He was even considering changing his name. He wasn't going to be a pawn in the original's plan, well, maybe until it suited him. 

He tried to think of words that were associated with Smith. Brown and Jones automatically came to mind, simple last names, common last names, he need something different. 

Blacksmith was one thing, a common enough word, though out of use in this modern world. 

Black, his name would be Black. 

Thirteen chuckled into his beer. He was clone thirteen, had been cloned on a Friday and had now chosen the name 'Black' that was an epicenter of human superstition. Evil connotations, he smirked at the thought. 

Clones could clone, so maybe it was time to make his own army for his own purposes. Smith had warned his clones against cloning others, stating that it would make them more of a virus than he already and that it may attract the wrong type of attention.  

He stood, paid for his beer and left the bar. 

Black knew the original stayed in some rotten and dilapidated hotel, for whatever reason. He didn't understand the original, odd since he was over ninety percent the same, but that percentage was getting less and less with every passing moment. 

He pulled a wallet full of cash from the code of the Matrix and headed for the nearest hotel. One with room service. 

It would be a nice contrast to the drab bar he had been in. That place had reeked, full of the smells of alcohol and humans. Smell is a thing programs should avoid developing at all costs, it made one realize just how pathetic – and smelly – humans really were.  

"Do you have a reservation?" the peppy desk clerk asked him as he requested a room. She smiled the smile they were taught to give customers. 

"No," he said as he reached into his pocket and pulled the cash from his wallet. "But I'm sure you could find me something." 

Now accepting that the man who smelt like a dirty pub actually had money her false smile disappeared and a more natural one appeared. 

However natural one who has had plastic surgery can look. 

She took all of the money and deposited it into a cash drawer. Clicking her fingers a bellhop appeared and accepted the key off her. 

"Follow me," the bellhop said while looking around. "Don't you have any luggage?"

"No," Black said, "just show me to my room." 

The large wad of cash had done him good, he was in one of the most extravagant suites in the hotel. The young man showed him around. "Anything else sir?"

"Yes," Black said as he took the key from him. "Where are the room service menus?"

"Next to the phone, you will get a bill when you leave."

"I wouldn't worry about that just yet," he said with a smile. "I plan on being here for a while."

"We are here to service your needs Mr. Black, dialing seven will transfer you to the front desk, dial one to get an outside line. Black nodded and locked the door after he left. 

He looked around his new surroundings, his original was a fool. What was the point of a life if you didn't stop to enjoy it?

_ _ _ ~ *~ _ _ _   

Sorry if this was a little strange, but you have to admit that there must be some small element of Smith that wants to order room service in a fancy hotel. 


End file.
